


a friend in need

by Pepperdoken



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: Fix-It, Gen, Implied Time Travel, No Uchiha Massacre, Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine Universe, Uchiha Shisui Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 18:37:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18783871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pepperdoken/pseuds/Pepperdoken
Summary: Shisui gets unexpected help when Danzou tries to steal his eyes, and now he has to figure out what to do next.Thankfully, ANBU Bat has an idea.





	a friend in need

**Author's Note:**

  * For [forluck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forluck/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Waiting on a Wire](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10768743) by [mirrorless](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirrorless/pseuds/mirrorless). 
  * Inspired by [Uchiha Coup Theory](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/480445) by Unwilting Blossom. 



The jutsu ends. 

Shisui breaks his half of the Rat seal and stumbles a few steps away, looking around wildly. They’re nowhere near where Shimura-sama had just tried to steal his eye, where Shimura-sama had ordered his ROOT agents to kill them. “What was kind of jutsu was _that?_ ” he demands before he can think better. 

He’s an Uchiha. The bat-masked ANBU agent who just saved him _knows_ that. There’s no reason for them to answer him, and many reasons that they _wouldn’t_. He can’t help analysing what little he knows about it, though: it had used a Rat seal, so it was probably a shadow jutsu. 

Bat shrugs. “Classified,” they — she — replies. She’s dropped the voice modifying jutsu that twisted her voice low and gravelly, which is… reassuring. She’d been trying to hide her identity from Shimura-sama and his ROOT agents, not from Shisui. “This way,” she continues, and nods towards the bare trace of a deer trail. 

Shisui doesn’t move. “I should report in,” he replies. Not that he’s sure who he should report in to. Shimura-sama is his usual superior officer, and while reporting to Fugaku-sama would result in the most sympathetic response… it would just give the clan more reason to go forward with the coup. 

He could go to the Hokage, but… Hokage-sama has been friends with Shimura-sama for years. Why would he believe Shisui’s report of what happened over his friend’s? 

“That’s where we’re going,” Bat replies patiently, her mask tilting: an unspoken invitation to either follow along, or offer a different option. 

“We’re reporting to Zou, then?” he asks. That _could_ be a good choice. The ANBU commander is part of a completely different chain of command than ROOT is, despite the fact that they’re both black ops divisions. 

“No,” she says, and Shisui tenses. “This is something we need to talk to Shikaku-sama about.” 

“That’s,” he starts, forcing himself to relax from his readiness to run or fight, “probably not a good idea.” He’s not sure who he had been expecting her to suggest, but Nara Shikaku wasn’t it. Shisui doesn’t want to insult her obvious trust of the man who is probably her clan head, but… even with the political power that comes from being the Jounin Commander and part of the Ino-Shika-Chou, it isn’t likely he’ll bother to hear Shisui out, let alone do anything to help him. 

Nara Shikaku isn’t an Uchiha, so why should he care what happened to Shisui? 

“Isolation and distrust are how the Uchiha got to this point in the first place, Shisui-san,” Bat says bluntly. “Your clan is being backed into a corner you wouldn’t be if you’d just ask for help.” 

“The other clans don’t care,” Shisui says, his shoulders slumping. “They’re too busy looking out for their own interests to care about what happens to the Uchiha — look at what happened eight years ago, when Konoha was reconstructing from the Kyuubi attack. We got pushed to the outskirts and no one said anything against it. We were ordered to stay out of the Kyuubi attack, and we’re called _cowards_ for it.” 

Bat’s silent for a minute, then she nods. “You probably know more about that than me,” she says, “but for the most part, the other clans _don’t_ know what’s going on. You put on an act and try to look strong and do your best to make it look like nothing’s wrong. And with no reason to look closer, no one is going to. Especially if you keep pushing the other clans away _._ ” 

“We don’t push people away,” Shisui protests. Keeping interactions with other clans short and to the point — that’s not something that Shisui does often, but it keeps other clans from having an opening to insult them. It’s _hard_ to talk to someone when you know they’re just waiting for a chance to pick at you. 

“And people _know_ ,” Shisui says, resigned. “ _Everyone_ in ANBU knows—” He cuts off, wincing, because the way she tilts her masked face at him is the same way that any member of ANBU would — an unspoken _oh really?_ that just cuts deeper because of the expressionless mask. “—but ANBU members wouldn’t be able to discuss that,” he finishes, feeling a bit foolish. 

“We wouldn’t,” Bat agrees. “Out of curiosity — was Danzou the one who pointed out that all of ANBU knew?” Her tone is casual, like it’s an idle question. 

“Yes,” Shisui replies cautiously. 

“Who’s been reporting the Uchiha are planning a coup?” Bat asks, rather than getting to the point she’s driving at. 

“Shimura-sama,” Shisui replies after a long moment, starting to frown. “He was… passing on reports from his ROOT agents.” 

“But there’s been nothing from ANBU?” she presses. “Nothing you’ve noticed from your clan?” 

Shisui opens his mouth to answer, only to come to a halt. There _hadn’t_ been any reports from ANBU about the Uchiha planning a coup, despite the whole district being under surveillance. And while there _had_ been a few mutters about a coup during clan-wide meetings, they’d come from known hot-heads — and those mutters had been immediately dismissed by the Uchiha in general, and Fugaku in particular. 

He should have noticed that before. “No,” Shisui admits, uneasy. “There hasn’t been. The only reports have been from ROOT. How did I not notice that?” 

Bat ignores the question. “Your grandfather was on the same team as Danzou, wasn’t he?” she asks in a complete non sequitur. 

Blinking at her, Shisui pauses to think about it before answering. Uchiha Kagami’s position as one of Tobirama’s students is public knowledge, if not exactly _common_ knowledge at this point. Shisui has made a point of learning everything he could about the grandfather he shares a mangekyou power with. 

He knows how his grandfather had died. He knows what the goal of the mission had been, he knows who his grandfather’s teammates had been. And he knows— 

Shisui goes still, staring at Bat. “Shimura-sama… _Danzou_ was a teammate on the mission that my grandfather died on,” he says. His voice sounds strange to his own ears, distant. Bat nods, like he’s said something she knows. “Danzou lost an eye on that mission.” She nods again, and Shisui swallows hard. “And… Kagami was given a field cremation.” 

Bat nods one more time. “It’s just a suspicion,” she says. “I don’t have any proof. But…” 

“But,” Shisui agrees. If Danzou has had Kagami’s eye ever since then… If he’s had access to Kotoamatsukami, for _decades_ … It would explain how Shisui had been so convinced the Uchiha were planning a coup even in the absence of any proof. And even if the other clan heads _had_ known what the Uchiha were facing, it was possible that Danzou had made it seem unimportant. Shisui slumps against a tree, rubbing his face. “Fuck.” 

No _wonder_ Danzou had tried to steal Shisui’s eyes. 

Bat shifts, telegraphing her movements as she reaches in to pat Shisui’s shoulder. “Now you know.” 

He nods, and sighs. “Are you _sure_ it should be Shikaku-sama?” 

“He’s the best choice,” she replies. “I’m almost certain that Danzou hasn’t used Kagami’s eye on him, but there’s probably something you can do to make sure of it, right? And if there _was_ something that I missed, if things go wrong…” She holds up one hand in a Rat half-seal. “I’ll be right there with you, okay? I’ll get you out.” 

Shisui closes his eyes and leans his head back against the tree. “He’s your clan head,” he says. It’s not quite a protest, but… he can’t ask her to turn against her clan just to help him. 

“Stopping what Danzou is doing to your clan is more important,” she replies without hesitation. “We take our alliances seriously. He would understand.” 

He knows he should argue, but for the longest time it’s been just Shisui and Itachi trying to prevent disaster for the Uchiha clan. To receive Bat’s offer of help, unprompted, without even hinting at wanting something in return… “Okay,” he says finally. “Okay. Let’s report to Shikaku-sama, then.” 


End file.
